An opto-electronic converter is a component whose electromagnetic impedance varies as a function of the optical energy or of the static electric field it receives.
At present, the smallest components of this kind (about 100 .ANG.) include a material having a non-linear response, e.g. of the II-VI semiconductor type, such as CdS or CdS.sub.x Se.sub.1-x, enclosed in beads of glass that vary in color both due to variation in composition and due to quantum confinement. These materials suffer from the defect of not being very stable over time.
The same materials, or III-V type semiconductor materials having properties of the same type, e.g. InGaAs, can be optimized in systems of millimeter size.
It is also known that non-linear properties can be increased by reducing size, as mentioned in articles published in J. Opt. Soc. Am. B2 (1985) 1155 and Phys. Rev. B36 (1987) 9293. However, those systems still have dimensions of the order of several millimeters.
An object of the present invention is to provide an opto-electronic converter whose dimensions are of the order of a nanometer.